Sam's CEO Rosalind Brewer on Diversity

Diversity for Diversity’s Sake

Just yesterday, CNN reporter Poppy Harlow interviewed Sam’s CEO Rosalind Brewer.  Ms. Brewer is a black female and part of the interview focused on diversity in the workplace, which has led to some screams of racism (or reverse racism if you prefer).  Being a 63-year-old white guy and a diversity agnostic, I thought I should check it out.

I have to admit, the claims of racism are way overblown.  Most of the interview was a substantive discussion of compensation for Walmart and Sam’s employees in the form of salaries and benefits.  Not only did I agree with her positions, but I also thought she conducted herself extremely well.  She was articulate and thoughtful and came across as a great role model for anyone climbing the corporate latter, no matter your race or gender.  I particularly liked her stance that companies should be responsible for the decision to provide certain benefits like paid family leave, versus government mandate.

At the very end of the interview Poppy asked Ms. Brewer what was she doing to get more people like herself into leadership positions at Walmart and Sam’s.  She suggested that it starts at the top and she was trying to do her part to mentor young black women and men.  I certainly don’t object to that, in fact I applaud it.  She didn’t say that she didn’t mentor old white guys like me.  I’m sure she does that also, but if truth be told, young black men and women are in need of positive role models and if she can be an example, I’m way OK with that.

But, I rarely agree with 100% of what anyone says, so I would have a small caution for Ms. Brewer.  At the end of her interview she talked about a company that was meeting with her that was represented by all white males.  This seemed to bother her.  My first warning to Ms. Brewer is that diversity is about more than skin color or gender.  Even if members of a group look the same, they could differ in levels of experiences, ways of thinking (brain styles if you wish), work ethic, etc.  The point is, diversity should be about results, not just looks.

I love to use sports as the example here.  The NBA has a real shortage of short, slow white guys.  Do you think they care?  They simply want to win and are willing to bring anyone onto the team that can help them do that.  However, they are looking for what I’ll call “good diversity”.  Shaquille O’Neal was a great player.  He was the NBA’s MVP and won four NBA titles with the Lakers and the Miami Heat, but can you imagine a team of five Shaqs?  They wouldn’t get the ball over mid court.

NBA teams want people with different skills.  Some need to shoot from the outside and some need to handle the ball and some need to dominate the paint, like Shaq did.  But the key to the diversity they are looking for revolves around winning, and so it should be with business.

As Ms. Brewer looked at the collection of white males, she should be asking, “how are they delivering for me?  Is there something missing from this group that is causing them to deliver a poor product to me?”  This will more likely deliver meaningful diversity that can make a positive difference.

In the mean time, I encourage Ms. Brewer to mentor and encourage all of the young people she can.  The world would be a better place with more Rosalind Brewers in it.